Best movies & TV Shows like Before Daybreak

Shanghai gangsters grapple with lust and loyalty on the eve of war with Japan as they try to navigate an alliance with the enemy's army.

In 1930, two sisters from the countryside, the serious Zhang Lan (Ruan Lingyu) and the frivolous Zhang Tao graduate from the secondary school where their mother Zhang Jie serves as principal. They both love their cousin Zuo, but have ambitions other than marriage. Their lives change dramatically when both attend university in Shanghai and encounter modern urban life and rapidly changing society. The film also depicts the emergence of Chiang Kai-shek's 1934 New Life Movement. Lianhua Film Studio did the film to appease the Nationalist Party which accused it of primarily presenting left-wing films, which was true.

This is a drama set in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. Charlotte Gray tells the compelling story of a young Scottish woman working with the French Resistance in the hope of rescuing her lover, a missing RAF pilot. Based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulks.

Retired from active duty, and training recruits for the Impossible Mission Force, agent Ethan Hunt faces the toughest foe of his career: Owen Davian, an international broker of arms and information, who is as cunning as he is ruthless. Davian emerges to threaten Hunt and all that he holds dear -- including the woman Hunt loves.

A Chinese-American woman tries to expose an illegal alien smuggling ring.

During World War II, a secret agent must seduce then assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill.

Sister Ye lives in a rural village, where everyone makes traditional toys. When Sister Ye's husband dies of an unknown illness, and while Ye is attending to him, her son is kidnapped and sold to a wealthy lady in the city of Shanghai. Shortly after, the village is destroyed during an attack between rival warlords, forcing the villagers move to the city, where they continue to make toys. Ten years pass, and Ye's daughter Zhu'er has become a toy designer. While helping the Nationalist army at the rear, Zhu'er is killed in an attack by the Japanese. On New Year's Eve, Sister Ye is dressed in rags, sitting on the curb, selling toys. A young boy buys toys from her, and it is none other than her son, whom she does not recognize.

Ding Hui is a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group in Japanese occupied Shanghai. An unexpected encounter reunites her with Itami, an ex-lover and officer with a secret police unit tasked with dismantling Purple Butterfly.

Iconic actress Jean Yu returns to Japanese-occupied China to star in a play directed by her former lover. However, her undercover work for the Allies soon places her life in grave danger.

Miss Winters is a dancer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and is asked to secretly transport a prototype magnetic mine to Puerto Rico. She thinks that she is working for the US Government, but fails to see why she would be involved.

A training film for OSS agents who are to be dropped behind enemy lines.

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

A murder occurs on a train bound for Shanghai during World War II.

Exodus to Shanghai tells the story of two lovers who have to escape from Vienna to China after Dr. Ho, the Chinese Consul in Vienna in 1938, issued Exit Visas to many Jews against the instruction of his superiors. Fannia, a New York Jewish Violin student, falls in love with the Consul's nephew Bruce. Together they must leave Vienna as the Gestapo is chasing them to get the Jews and Hitler's painting.

Secret Service agents must retrieve the briefcase allowing the President control of America's nuclear arsenal before massive destruction ensues.

In August 1937, Japanese troops occupied Shanghai. Three leaders in Shanghai go their separate ways: Jinrong Huang never sees other people; Xiaolin Zhang makes a great fortune and Yuesheng Du leaves for HongKong. Japanese form The Traitors Agents Headquarters to kill Chinese people. The patriotistic people composes the assassination team.

China, 1915. A secret and unequal treaty that would increase Japan's dominance over China is about to be signed unwillingly but not before external forces jump in to make sure it never happens. Therefore both the US and a small band of thieves and orphans (among them Lau Sek-Ming and Alexander Lo Rei) are ordered by their foster father (Zhang Feng-Yi) to track it down in Shanghai. Feeling an unease in terms of their involvement in high politics all of a sudden, it becomes clear there's a traitor in the group...

A New York socialite travels to Shanghai to visit her ailing aunt and falls in love with a Russian banker, who harbors a family secret.

A fourteen year old lad discovers his first love at the point of his pencil whilst drawing the portrait of a sickly but coquettish fifteen year old girl. In the neighbourhood an old freedom-fighter pits himself against bad types, a pretty cinema-ticket girl takes to the streets at night and a young anarchist dedicates himself to telling tall stories. Far away, in Shanghai, a hero of the Republic meets a beautiful femme fatal with oriental eyes. Reality and fiction become fused in an embrace.

The film tells the story about the daughter of a Nationalist general who revisits the famous summer resort Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi province in 1980 and falls in love with the son of a senior general of the Chinese Communist Party.

An undercover CCP helps peaceful liberation of Peking.

In 1946, to prevent the Chinese civil war, Zhou Enlai who represented the Communists held a talk with the Chinese Nationalist Party, and George C. Marshall, who represented the Americans at Plum Village in Nanjing. A lost notebook stirred the already turbulent peace talk. The ripples alert the three sides and a battle of spy and anti-spy began. Many historical figures like Zhou Enlai, George Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, Soong May-ling, He Yingqing, Chen Cheng, and Hu Zongnan are depicted in the movie. Other fictional persona such as the ace agent Xiong Huiquan, the female journalist, and a secret spy who belongs to the Confidential Bureau adds tension to the critical moment.

An agent infiltrating the Nationalist Party in wartime Shanghai finds himself under threat.

Operation Bosimao is put into effect by Chinese Nationalists to attempt to assassinate the mayor of Shanghai and slow Communist military action against a nearby island.

Sydney Bristow, an agent who has been tricked to believe she is working for the U.S. government, is actually working for a criminal organization named the Alliance of Twelve. Upon learning this, Sydney becomes a double agent for the real CIA.

This drama is set during the revolutionary time in Shanghai, based on a novel of the same name of Hai Fei. During the republican revolution, Chen Shen is a secret agent under Special Operations Executive Director Bi Zhongliang, among the agents called “sparrow” (similar to the program “zero” in Japan)

Set during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in 1941, the drama follows Chen Shan who was forced to be a Japanese spy to save his younger sister who was held in captive; and his journey to become a patriotic fighter.

A story revolving around a fresh graduate who holds an idealistic view of what's right and wrong, yet realizes that the very institution he chose to serve falls heavily onto a gray area caught in the struggles during chaotic times. It takes place after the war has been won. Gu Yao Dong who grew up in Shanghai graduates from university. Hoping to fulfill his dreams of upholding the law and protecting the people, he succeeds in becoming a policeman. However, Gu Yao Dong is disheartened from the constant bullying by his peers and even gets caught deep in the political warfare between the Communists and the Nationalist. With the help of Xia Ji Cheng and Shen Qing He, he starts on a road to a revolution.

Zheng Yao-Xian is a CCP spy code-named Kite and lurks in the Nationalist secret service.

After ten years of knowledge and choice, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Lin Nansheng has grown into a true Communist Party member. And at the critical moment of the War of Liberation, he made outstanding contributions to the party and the country.

Twenty-two strangers must compete in a series of missions, the more missions they win, the bigger the prize pot. However, amongst the players lie the ‘Traitors’, who meet in secret and decide who to eliminate from their fellow players known as ‘Faithfuls’. Whilst trying to avoid being eliminated, the Faithfuls must figure out who is a Traitor and vote them out to take the prize money for themselves. If a Traitor makes it to the end, they are in with a chance of taking home the cash prize. But there will be twists, turns, and surprises for the players.

During the 1944 Wang Jingwei regime of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Lu Feng, an orphan, returns home to Shanghai after studying for two years in Japan. Unbeknownst to the world, he has been ordered to enter the No. 76 Headquarters as an undercover agent for the Communist Party. Along the way, Lu Feng encounters the mysterious Hua Xiang Yu, a capable and skilled woman who has just returned from studying abroad in America, and his old childhood friend, Huo Fei. Both individuals seem to hold secrets of their own. Time and time again, as Lu Feng strives to protect his undercover identity, he finds himself on the opposite side of Hua Xiang Yu. Slowly and uncertainly, the two circle around each other, each hoping to uncover the other's real purpose. In this time of chaos where corruption and violence dominate the world, these underground agents, can only choose to fight for what they believe is right... and, hopefully, bring about a more peaceful tomorrow.

This drama tells the story of Ximen Changhai, head of the Magpie Saber Sect, who is determined to eradicate the wokou pirates and joins a secret plan to do so. To prevent his plans from leaking out, Ximen Changhai brought his brother, Ximen Changzai, a cook, to the Magpie Saber Sect to become the acting sect head, and as affairs within the Sect changed, an amusing martial arts story started within the sect.

A story about a socialite in Shanghai whose family falls to ruin and starts on a journey to become a spy. Lu Han Zhi's fate is intertwined between two men from opposing sides of a war. Gao Chen who appears to be a traitor to his country is actually a Communist spy. Han Shou Min who appears to be a patriot and used to be a top spy of the Kuomindang is treading on a path of no return after being betrayed by his own comrades. Caught in a dangerous and increasingly complication situation, Lu Han Zhi grows from a mere socialite to an impassioned revolutionary.

Set in the period before and after the founding of PRC, it is a story that follows the first generation of People's Public Security. CCP undercover agent, Zheng Chao Yang, engages in a battle of wits and will against KMT operatives. Before the battle of Liaoshen, Communist operative CCP undercover agent, Zheng Chao Yang (Zhang Yi), infiltrates and lurks in the Peiping police station. Zheng Chao Yang's identity is discovered by a traitor, forcing him to evacuate the police station immediately. In his escape, he is able to take with him a secret list of KMT spies that can deal a detrimental blow to the KMT. After the liberation of Peiping, Zheng Chao Yang returns to the city. However, waiting for him is a new battlefield. The KMT has dispatched a team of elite spies operating under the codename "Tao Yuan". Tao Yuan is led by the elite spy codenamed "Phoenix" and who is actually Chao Yang's older brother, Zheng Chao Shan (Huang Zhizhong), who is a famous doctor.